Your weekly one-stop for highlights from the birth blogosphere. Visit weekly for the latest on childbirth, especially related to cesarean prevention, recovery, and VBAC. To nominate a blog post to be featured here, email me at blog@ican-online.org.
The blogosphere lit up this week with reaction and analysis of the much-hyped American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (AJOG) article on the safety of home birth. Read Jennifer Block’s post on pushedbirth for a good summary of the controversy and Amy Romano’s breakdown of the article’s research method at Science and Sensibility.
Jill at The Unnecessarian also highlights an article on home birth (published in the same journal), by Eugene Declercq, PhD, Marian F. MacDorman, PhD, Fay Menacker, DrPH, CPNP, and Naomi Stotland, MD has that not received any media attention. This article points out the need to distinguish between planned and unplanned home births in research studies, something that the other study is being roundly criticized for failing to do.
On a happier note, Gloria LeMay has posted a lovely home birth video complete with daddy catching baby girl!
3 Responses
Hey, for once I’m the “happy note” 🙂
I don’t know why we waste any more time whatsoever reacting to ACOG. Who cares what those dinosaurs think. THEY’RE the ones with the 30% c section rate, for heaven’s sake.
The study with the largest numbers and no research bias is that of Marjorie Tew of Glasgow University. She was TRYING to prove that birth in large hospitals was safest and she “discovered” that home or small clinic was safer, not only for low risk women but also so very ill women.
Mark my words, ACOG will soon come out with a press release saying they “discovered” this NEW THING called homebirth. That’s what happens with everything that women “know” and then they eventually come around.
AMEN Gloria.
I agree we need to stop caring WHAT ACOG has to say!
The natural birth community is ACOG’s best publicist. They make some stupid press release and we take it viral. Breathe women, ignore them, we’re on our way up and they’re on the down escalator. I’m not posting or commenting on anything they put out anymore, I promise.